ARTETA Got It Wrong!! | WHO plays CB? FT Jordan (Fourever Arsenal Podcast)

People deluded, I'm back again. Again, we saw us lose the ball, Memphis, our second defeat of 2024, first of the season, and it calls for people with calm heads and strong opinions. So I had to get my dude here, man. What you saying, my guy? You good? Yes, brother. I'm good. I'm good. How you doing, sir? I mean, considering the result, terrible. But if football's all we've got to complain about in life, then we're all right, innit? If Arsenal losing on the weekend is the worst thing that's happening in your life, you're living good. You're living good. Hey, man, you have to keep balance. But you know us Arsenal fans, or in general, you know, we're the best thing since life spread. We've been allergic to losing. We lose, the league's done, it's over, this player's good, not good enough, the manager's this, that, the bird, what's going to happen against Liverpool? So we've got a lot to cover in this 12th hour, man. The first thing I want to ask you now, it's in another game with another red card. Do we have a discipline problem? We've got a stupidity problem. This is why he's here, he doesn't mix his words. No, but we've got an idiot problem. The thing is, for a couple of days now, we've gone from having one of the best discipline records in the league, I think two seasons ago, we didn't have any red cards. Last year we had two, but one of them was like contentious, and that was two over 38 games. We're now three and eight, you know what I mean? It's not like back in the day under Wenger, if you remember, we'd rack up red cards, bro. We'd rack up the red cards. Like next to card points, man. We loved the red cards in those days. There was a few seasons where we were getting like three, four season minimum. Vieira then, man, never getting two alone. Facts. But the difference between then and now, which is why I say I think we've got an idiot problem rather than a disciplinary problem, is that the red cards back then were taking man's head off, or they were for high challenges, or they were for late ones, or they were for licking man down off the ball. Facts. A red card's a red card. If it's a foul, it's a foul, you've got to go, you've got to go. But for me, if you're going to get sent off, at least have the image of a hard man. At least have the image of like, don't play this guy, Ray Keane and Vieira sitting. Yeah, bruv, don't come near me with the ball because you know what time it is. If you're going to get a red card, at least make a man know. We're getting red cards for kicking, maybe towing the ball away, and you kind of eat it. It's just stupidness. So for me, we've got an idiot problem. If you're going to get red cards, like, okay, when I was younger, my mum said to me, Jordan, don't let me catch your teeth, you know? Don't let me catch your teeth. It's like we're all in the same life. If I ever catch you, if the police ever come back to my house with you, and say you were stealing from my house, I'm stealing from a shop. The black's going to get beaten off you. Oh, bruv, the belt. She said, but if you're good at teeth, rob the bank. We all live the same life, man. If you're going to steal, at least rob the bank. Make it worth it. We're getting these stupid red cards that are going to hurt us. They're hurting us now because we've dropped six points already. We've dropped just through red cards. So more than that, we drew two and lost one. So for me, it's just like, if you're going to get red cards, yeah, bro, like, fix up. Because the margins now are really fine for what we can do in terms of catching this Man City team. And it's hard enough as it is. It's hard when you don't get any red cards. It's hard when you've got 11 men on the pitch week to week. But you're going to games now with 11, sorry, 10 men, 10 men, 10 men. It's just like, bro, you held it up until the last 20. And then we threw it away in 99 minutes, I think. I think between Martinelli's chance where he should have scored, they obviously got the first one where they'd done us from a set piece. And I personally think I'm not blaming Kivio because I think it was on brand. You look at Trossach's pass and Saliba's dumb stuff. You look at when Kivio obviously initially done well and then a silly back pass. I think that sums up collectively. We weren't at the races. I think midfield, we struggled. I think we couldn't play out from the back. I know there's been changes and all of that jazz, but I still think there was enough out there to get the job done. Before I ask you about the performance, yeah, do you think it was a red card for Saliba? Because many people point to the Chelsea game and say, boy, inconsistent. You know how Arsenal fans are. Well, see, the thing is, within that, there's two different questions. See, the Saliba red card is a blatant red. I don't want to debate around it. It's a blatant red card. All this, oh, but Ben White could have come in and covered. It's a red card. There's the other way around. We're calling for a red. It's a red card, right? But that doesn't mean that the issue of consistency isn't a valid issue as well. For me, who was it? Tosin. Chelsea. That's also a red card. Now, as Arsenal fans, we're doing a lot of crying right now. We're doing a lot of crying. Every Arsenal fan is crying. Look at what they did. Look at... And I'm not here for the tears. Like, is there an imbalance going on? Yeah, there probably is. In fact, yeah, there is. But we just got to fight on. We just got to fight on. This idea that there's some kind of an agenda against Arsenal Football Club, for me, is embarrassing. It little clubs our club. It makes us look like some little boy. You know what? Victor is not trying to get our lunch money stolen. Yeah, man. Get on with it, man. Stop crying and get on with it. And if it means we've got to fight against referees, then so be it. Come May, we'll look back and evaluate where points were dropped and where we think there were shockers in terms of decisions made, red, tear, tear, call. But for now, we can't control referees. We can't control the decisions that have been made. We've just got to get on with it. Help yourselves. Did you lose the game because the referee made two or three howlers? No. You lost the game because Gabriel Mastani didn't finish his dinner. You lost the game because Saliba did something stupid. You lost the game because Trossard did an absolutely imbecile pass that put Saliba in a position. You lost the game because from front to back, Bard, Declan Rice and Thomas Partey, everybody, for me, two out of ten. That's harsh. You reckon that's harsh, you know? You don't think Mourinho did OK? Mourinho was the worst player on the pitch. Mourinho was awful. Mourinho was absolutely awful. And let me be clear, I rate the guy. I'm glad we've got him. He'll get better. I rate the guy. You just have to keep it true. He was awful for me. And I think he was awful, partly that wasn't even his fault. I think he was awful because he was just rubbish. But I think the idea of playing three sixes was a bit weird. I didn't get why we played all three sixes in the middle. No one could really build out playing that. And I think that harmed Riyal. I don't know what his job was. I don't know. I don't know what his job was. I don't know if he knew what his job was. So I'm saying that he was awful. But I think part of that, I sympathise. I think, listen, you know me. Mikel Arteta's my guy. I rate him. He's my guy. But you have to hold licks. You have to hold criticism. Everything he decided on that game, pre-match selection, substitute during the game and post-match in the interview, he had a shocker. He had an absolute stinker, Mikel Arteta. So I'm not going to blame Mourinho completely because I think that, I think there was a bit of confusion as to what his role and his job actually was. But let's have it right. He was awful. You thought he was good. I watched the game again and I was reviewing that. I think everybody was terrible. And then I watched the game again and I thought, a bit like what you're saying, I wasn't necessarily for the midfield. I wasn't necessarily against it. I thought we could do a thing. It might not be pretty. There might not be creativity, but you are international footballers. You could do something. But then when I watched the game again, a bit like piggy banking off what you said, he's left to his own devices. You're trying to do the other guard thing and lead the press. Then you're dropping deep. As you said, you've got three sixes who can obviously pass the ball, but they're not Santis. They're not Sesses. They're not connecting players. So it looked like there's a, you know, all of it is just a negative cocktail. I don't think Arteta set us up in the right way. You coupled in the fact that, you know, Bournemouth are quite narrow. They're quite compact. You could see what I knew was in trouble They back themselves. When you play Arsenal, you normally have to give us respect. If they're Sacra Martinelli, as a Sunday league fullback, if you know someone's a bad way, you drop off a couple of yards. Cause you think if I get in a foot race, it's peak. They didn't do that. They pressed us well. We had no answers. As you know, football is a simple game, bro. You have to keep them at the back of your net. You need to put them in the back of yours. We had no creativity and no answers. We couldn't defend well. Now I'm being harsh to Mikel Arteta, but I genuinely think those tools, you could have done something. I don't know what it was of. I think you could have done something. Do you reckon he should have started Ethan? Played two of the three that went out there and run a little Ethan, see what's going on. I wouldn't have been disappointed or upset if he had started Ethan. But equally, I think we have to be quite careful about managing his minutes. Now I'm a believer, if you're good enough, you're old enough, right? He's played a couple of games already. The guy, you know, can handle himself in the Premier League. But I think we have to be very careful about relying on him in such scenarios. I mean, the ideal scenario is that you bring him on when you're two up with 10 minutes to go. And you give him five, 10 games like that. There's no pressure on him. Build him up. Yeah, and he can make mistakes then. He can make errors because the game's won. And it's not a problem. But equally, I wouldn't have been like raging had he started because I get it. After Odegaard, you're looking at him as the next best creator in the squad. Do you know what I mean? So I wouldn't have been pissed or bothered if he had started. But equally, I wasn't kind of like rushing. Before the team lineup came out, my thinking wasn't, we should be starting Ranieri today. That wasn't my thinking. So I can't be a hypocrite. I'm a bit kind of indifferent as to how I felt about him starting or not. But on Saliba, can I just say on Saliba and the red card, bro? Because he's getting a lot of heat for what he did. And I think it was silly. But the foul that he gave away made me think about something that Jamie Carragher said a few years ago on Monday Night Football, which I thought was quite interesting. He said he doesn't, he finds it interesting or he finds it baffling, actually, as to why so many centre-backs in that scenario, don't let the guy go through. Because he's got a lot to do. He's got a lot to do. It's two things here. He said one of two things that come to mind. First thing is, you're saying to the striker, do you have the composure, the control and the execution to finish a dinner? And let's be clear, in a one-on-one, the striker should always score. The striker should score, in a one-on-one, just score. So do you have the composure to go through and finish the goal and slot it in? But secondly, and more importantly, Jamie Carragher was saying in that scenario, he'd be saying Pepe, as in Pepe Reina. Help me out, mate. Get me out of jail. Can you help me out here? And if the guy scores, you're not blaming Reina. In a one-on-one. I know I F'd up, but I'm still on the pitch. Cool. But he's saying Reina, can you help me out here a little bit? You know, help me out here, mate. And I thought... Scratch my back. I'll scratch yours. Yeah, just put one at the back here, of course, and help me out here and try and save me from what's an issue here. And I just wondered, in that scenario, instead of letting the guy go through, letting him score, you've got an hour to score a goal. Rather than, it's nil-nil, but you're down to 10 men and your guy misses the Liverpool game on the weekend. Obviously, in that moment, he's not thinking Liverpool next weekend. I could miss it. I get it. But it just made me think, is he better off just letting him go through one-on-one? Just let him go through one-on-one. He's got a lot to do, as you said. Saliba's not slow. I don't think he catches him, but you'd back him to kind of make it competitive in a foot race going through. But just saying to the keeper, David Rea... Get me out of jail, man. Get yourself some match of the day highlights. Help me out here, bro. You know what I mean? I think, do you know what? I agree with you, but I did a stream earlier today with Lee judges, yeah, and it's relevant but irrelevant, but it made me think. He was like, oh, if we had a final on the weekend, like Liverpool was a final and Saliba did that, would Saliba have done it in that moment because you know you're out? Now, I'm with you in that you're not thinking about that, but it gave me people thought, bro. See, Lee's taking my point. That's what I made to him. The only time you've probably pulled the guy down is if it's a cup final last minute. If it's a cup final... You take one for the team, yeah. You take one for the team. You bring him down. But yeah, to what Lee's saying, I agree. I don't think you need to that scenario really, really foul him. Just let him go through. Just let him... And look, we're talking about Evan Nilsson, with all due respect. You probably will score. We're not talking Salah. We're not talking... Yeah, we're not talking Harlan and Deadman. We're not talking... You know what I mean? We're not talking Ian Wright. So, it's not definitely scored. It's probable, but it's not like, oh, van Nistelrooy. It's just go to the halfway line. Do you know what? I think my stance is harsher than you. I think Saliba, obviously, it's a split-second decision. You've kind of been put into it with Trosser. I think it's one where you just make the foul, then you think about it after, and then it's peak. I did think it's one where it could have been a yellow. I thought it was a red. I thought we caught live. Obviously, Souvier. But then I'm a bit harsher. It is a red. But is he last, man? I don't... Is it a goal-scoring opportunity? It is because he's last, man. But he's got a lot to do. And I'm harsher on Saliba in that. Like you said, bro, you're physically great. You can get back defensively. Ivan Nilsson has to race through on goal, let alone score. So I just think Saliba shouldn't have done that, if I'm completely honest with you. It's easy for me to say that, but I don't think he should have done it. If that's how it's going through, you said it's a yellow. I can't comment on the scenario. I'm shameless. Obviously, no. I hear it. Because if that happens against us, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. I don't even... Do you know what it is? Like Wenger said, I don't even know why I'm commenting because I didn't even see the Saliba moment. You know, it's one of them. No, you're right. If it happened against us, I'm calling for everything. A bit like, I don't think the Jadon Sancho penalty in the Chelsea game was a pen. If that was to Arsenal, I'm calling everything. But I do think, and I don't know how you feel, I think the red card kind of takes away from the poor performance. Like obviously it's difficult with 10 men. I think we was crap even with 11 players out there. I agree. That's why I don't think it does distract from the performance. Because I think we were crap before the red card. Exactly. I don't think people are using the red card as like a distraction. I think people are aware. That first half, we were awful. I said on the podcast yesterday, I was saying that I don't remember us being able to keep the ball and pass the ball that badly since the latter Vega years. Yeah, when it was real still, when it needed to actually go. Honestly, I've seen us perform poorly or really badly since. But in terms of ball retention, I've never ever seen Arsenal struggle to pass the ball like that for a good five years. It was, that first half was as bad as I remember. It was, and not only is it bad. Fuck 11 strangers out there, man. Oh, bro, it was so poor. It was, I don't know what happened. David Ryer, even before the red card, he was messing around. He was looking spooky. Yeah, but the whole team just looked like they just, they weren't on it. And I just think it's a shame because in a title race, you've got to be on it every game to lose it. We're chasing a machine They have no feelings. They're programmed. It's like buttons. And they've been there, done it with a t-shirt, bare times. Come on, man. So you have to be perfect. And the irony is, even if we are perfect, we still might come second. Do you know what I mean? So we can't afford to be going into games like Bournemouth. I think Bournemouth are a good team, especially on their patch. So Bournemouth are not some idiot team. Yeah, Arjola's a serious gaffer from the same part of playing as Arteta, so maybe he allowed it. Maybe, but even having said that, you've got to be beating Bournemouth. We should be moving to them. Yeah, let's cut the crap. No, I don't want you in this. I know Saka and Odegaard are out, but you're going for a title, bro. You need to beat Bournemouth. This is why I love your opinions, man. That's dead. Yes, we miss Odegaard and we miss Saka, but it happens. Get on with it. So I have to ask you, obviously, you know, in Raya's defence, you were stinky, but I do think the way we set up didn't hurt, didn't help you. And you've been good for us. So Libra as well. Everyone has a bad game, is what it is. The gaffer though, do you think the manager sets up too negatively? You know, there's been three DMs where we're praised as one of the best defensive sides. We've dropped off a level. They say defence wins titles. Goals win games. We don't look like we can create and score. So is Arteta being a bit too, maybe negative is not the right word, but a bit too defensive-centric or a bit too negative and got a handbrake up too much and a bit fearful? No, I think on Saturday, yes. But generally, no. I don't think his general position is to beat his defence. I think he's recognising the value of being defensively good. And I think that he's prioritising that for sure. But I don't think he's being too negative. I think he realises that if you keep clean sheets, we're going to win games because we've got killers up top. But I think we've got guys who can score up top. We've got to keep 11 on the pitch though. Well, there's that as well. And I think even if you start defensively and you get out of board with a draw, that's not the worst result. It's not the worst, but we'll still be vexed. We can't be hypocrites. We'll be vexed. I'd still be pissed if he drew that game because I think you need to win those games. And the sad thing is, having performed so well, Damoudi, during what was deemed our difficult periods, we had Atalanta, Spurs, City, Villa. Yeah, we were in a two-week period that we had difficult games. This was meant to be the easier period. But Southampton, Leicester, Bournemouth, it hasn't felt very easy to me. We got away with it at the Emirates. Let's not lie. We have, bro. We have. And a couple of games across the season, you can do that. You can run that. But it's happening too frequently already. As you said, eight games in. Again, the difficult thing is, we're now going back into what's deemed a difficult period. We've got Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle. Yeah, coming up. So, I don't know. We've got six points out of nine. But you think those three games, you need to be getting six points out, sorry, nine points out of nine, because you might not get nine between the next three. So we need to factor in. That's a really hard game. We might drop points there. We might take a draw there. Whereas now, I think we need to bag seven minimum. We need to go on a run. Yeah. You need to beat. I'll be real. We need to beat Liverpool. I hate to be that guy. It's a must win. It's a make or break. But I think you have to win that. I think it was a must win before Bournemouth. I think the Liverpool game was a must win game before Bournemouth. I think Liverpool are looking like they're looking to kind of move to this title race. I'm not sure if they'll have the longevity in their legs over the course of the season. I have doubts about whether this Liverpool team will be able to kind of maintain this into March and April. But for now, they're very much in the mix and they're looking solid. They're not looking great. They look solid. At this point of season, it's just about kind of looking solid. And yeah, Liverpool on the weekend, with no Saliba, you know, no- Yeah, let's talk about that, man. Who sent a half for you then? Because it's looking, I would have, Kivio could have been a chance after the Bournemouth win. Kivio, I don't want to see you send a half. I'll be real. Well, this was the beautiful thing about Bini and Calafiore, because when everyone was saying, why are you spending your money on another defender? It's for this. Saliba's the best player in the squad, in my opinion, because of his talent, right? And you want him against Liverpool. Of course, he's our best player, in my opinion. But I'd be a lot more fearful if we lost Havert. If he got the red card. Yeah, because he was going up front. Yeah, even Saka, I don't know if he's going to be back for the weekend. I'd be much more concerned playing Liverpool at home without Saka, without Havert, because the depth of quality in that part of the pitch isn't as strong as it is in defence. Saliba's better than every defender we've got, but I still think Calafiore, Gabriel, Ben White, and then you're hoping Timbers back. You don't want to see Zinni out there, I'll be real. Big up Zinni, but it's scary. I don't want to see Kivio or Inver. I don't want to agenda him, but you're another one that's not built for this. We'd have loved Zinni to be fit for a game. Not to start, but I think the back four of Calafiore, Ben White, Gabriel, and Timbers, that back four I think is still good enough to contain Liverpool, even without Saliba. So Saliba's a loss, of course, he's our best player, as I said, but I don't think it hurts us as much because of the quality that's behind him as it would if it was, say, Rice was out, or if it was, say, Saka was out. I think Saka not playing on the weekend is a bigger issue. Because who the hell's right wing? Big upset Sterling. I think he was done a bit dirty because I think you've come in and it was just a terrible game and you had to get hooked, but Sterling on the right-hand side, for me, I know he's a yard man, I'll support him. I'm not trying to see it anymore. He's too basic on the right-hand side. It's not happening. And I think Sterling, you'd hope over the course of the season, adds value, but I think what we're seeing from Sterling, it's reminding me what Sterling has been in his Liverpool period and definitely his Chelsea period, you're going to get six weeks out of Sterling, which are really, really good. And then you get two months where it's really, really bad. And then you get six weeks, which are really, really good. And you're like, well, you know what? Sterling's an outside shot. Maybe he's the guy. Maybe it's a Walter Clark. And then he's nothing for two months. I think we have to just accept we're going to get some good games from Sterling, but there'll be longer periods where you're like, yo, why are we, why go out for this, brother? Do you know what I mean? Do you think he's been set up to fail though? Because obviously it's a double-edged sword because you're not in the best team prior to this point where he's winning games, but you didn't play for Chelsea. You're kind of building up your fitness and playing catch up. You're not really starting like that. So you're not really fit. Like, do you feel he's, yeah. I'd be more, more sympathetic if he was either a youngster or he was new to the league. He's neither. I hear that. He's neither. Part of the beauty of bringing in someone like Sterling is that you think... You know how this thing works. You know how this thing works, bro. There shouldn't be any need for build-up. There shouldn't be any need for... You know the Prem. Yeah, you know Arteta. And you're a senior player, bro. And you got a point to prove. A chip on your shoulder. The only reason why I thought it was a good thing bringing in Sterling, well, two reasons. One, because the flexibility of bringing him cover on the left and the right. But also, he's Vex. You're bringing in a Vex player. So I'm like, that's good. That's good. But right now I'm not seeing a Vex player. I'm not seeing a Vex player. So I'm a bit like, I'm not really hearing the whole, does he need time to get up to speed? Nah, bro. You're not 19. You're not 17. You're not 18. You're not a kid. If you were a kid, I might give you a... This is your bread and butter. This is why you bring in Sterling. Because it's plug and play. It's meant to be plug and play. So no, I'm not really trying to hear the excuse for Sterling, really. He's not been good. But listen, we need him on the weekend because Zaka's not fit. If Martinelli's not match fit to start, then he's in. Then he's in, bro. So it's a must-bring game. I think we can beat Liverpool. I think we will beat Liverpool if Zaka's fit. Zaka plays, I think, to win the game. No Zaka, then I'll be missing your best three players. Zaka, Odegaard... You'd throw Odegaard in, definitely. No, no, no. Because this is the one game I was hoping for Odegaard, at least an hour. At least he'd be on the bench, realistically, but yeah. I don't think he can be anywhere more than 50% fit. If that, yeah. And if that, and that, for me, isn't a high enough bar to even make the bench. To make the bench, you've got to be 75. You've got to give me 75% fit. And then, like you say, either give me an hour or come on for the last 20, if need be. But other than that, he'll break down again. And then he's out for two more months. And when the injury happened, just on Odegaard, I said to Milot, I'd be stunned if he plays again this year. Don't say that, man. Right. Come on, man. This is what I said then. Don't scare me, man. The injury, look, I said to me and Amanda, I said to them, if he plays again this calendar year, I'd be surprised. He's done well. I think he will. I think we'll see before Christmas. But I was making the point that- That's BF football before Christmas. There is. But my point is that it looked like a six-monther. It looked like it was going to be a half a season up. It looked like a bad one. So the fact that- He was crying then. Yeah, bro. So if he's getting back for November, for me, that's a touch. That's a touch. I have to ask you then, yeah, because obviously, I praise Arteta for what you're doing, the squad, how you've assembled it. But I'm not going to be a hypocrite. I think people were having little rumblings about, could we get adequate cover for Odegaard? Why did we let Smith-Rowe and Vieira go? Primarily in the summer, we was talking about wingers and strikers and central midfielders. But you're seeing injuries. You're seeing suspensions. You know, even if you move Califurian to centre-half, there's a hole at left-back, potentially, and we're already being strained. Does this question mark how Edu and Arteta have assembled the squad? Because go back to February, Arteta said we've got one of the smallest squads. Have we necessarily improved that? I think we have improved the squad. Have we improved it enough to win the league? That's debatable. This squad is better than last year's squad. That's the most indisputable. But is the squad good enough to make up the difference? Can't really go all the way in all the comps, man. Maybe not. But what I would say about in regards to... People talk about, why did you let Smith-Rowe and Vieira go? Let's have it right. They weren't... I don't understand the Fabio-Vieira run from a depth point of view. I'm not going to lie. I get it and I'm here for it because that just tells me, Arteta said, I don't rate you. You need to go play football. But it's a hindsight thing. They're not good enough to move in. No, you spent 30 million ems on him. Make it happen, bro. Because look now, I'm with you. I agree with you. But I think that you bought Donny. Is 30 million not? For Arteta, it is, bro. You make him mad. And I could even be devil's advocate. Did Fabio-Vieira not play off the right-hand side for Saka? I'm not saying it was good enough. But the depth, purely being devil's advocate. I agree with Fabio-Vieira. I think Arteta said, I don't rate you. You're gone. You ain't got a solution. You're not playing Ethan. But there's no point in having numbers. You're better off bringing Ethan through and playing him. If you think that he could actually do something, rather than just keeping Vieira, because he's a number. Do you know what I mean? None of them two were good enough. But I think they had to go. I agree, though. But I think what your point is alluding to is, did we spend the money or did we bring in adequate replacement? And the answer is no. But then again, I have to just trust that they try to get the right people in. Hence the last minute loan signing for Raheem Sterling. On paper, Raheem Sterling is a massive upgrade on Vieira and Smith Rowe. That, on paper, should work. You can cover Martinelli. You can cover Sterling. You can play Force 9 in certain games. He's experienced. He's one thing. He's of a good age. He's in London. He's a London boy. And he's vexed. He's just come to get curried out on Sunday, man. I've seen it, man. When he came off at 30 minutes, I literally said on my live streams, warm up the jerk pad, man. That's all we can get from this, bro. It's too blunted and a bit of rice and peas. It's good, you know what I mean? And I'm OK with that. But on paper, that transfer, that loan should have worked and it hasn't yet. So I don't think the squad is in trouble. We've been unlucky with injuries this year, for sure. But let's have it right. Last year, we were very lucky, apart from Timber. Did we have a major injury last year? No, we didn't. But that's why I'm asking you about squad depth, because it's like, you see how it's going to rain right now. We're going outside to do our duties on whatever. And it's like, we know it's going to rain. We're not bringing an umbrella. We're not bringing a jacket. We're just hoping, we're out there in sandals and we're hoping it don't rain. And if it don't rain, you go with it. So where would you say we're thin? Where would you say we're light? I think personally, up front, you know, Kai Havertz is doing his thing. He's made that his own. Jesus is poor. I do think, you know, I can't really say we're poor in the flanks because there are versatile players. You can make a case of Jesus, Sterling, Ethan. But I think we're light there. If I'm honest, I think we're light at centre half. I know there's a couple of versatile players. I think we're light. But we're light at centre half. My brother, Kivio, do you believe it? Do you believe in Kivio with your heart? Tommy's not fit. Hang on, hang on, hang on. If Kivio's your full centre back, you're doing well. But who's that third one? Who's that one that might not necessarily take Saliba or Gabriel's spot, but they're certain. Calafiore. He ain't played at centre half like that apart from Bowen. No, I agree with you. There's versatile players. We're talking about options. I'm saying... Yeah, but you put Calafiore at centre half. What's going on at left back then? Timba's not there. So have we got that much depth? Well, hang on a minute. How many people... You've got Timba, Tommy, Wyatt, and someone else. Calafiore, you can play centre half. But you move one of them about, the full backs. But hang on, hang on, hang on. You've got three players that can play left back. Calafiore, Zinchenko, and Timba. And even Tommy Yassi. And even Tommy Yassi, right? If all four of those guys are out, that's unlikely. So even if you have to move Calafiore to centre back for whatever reason, you're thinking, I've still got three others that, in theory, could play there now. The fact that all three of those guys are, at the moment, injured, Timba, Tommy, and Zinni, that's bad luck. That's the Arsenal packs. We've been seeing this, historically. Maybe not so much the last two years, but we've been seeing this. And you could say, is it bad luck? Because you know Tommy Yassi's record, you know Timba's record, and you know Zinni's record. So maybe you've left yourself light and know what could happen. I think, personally, the only area where I'm really light is up top. I still don't fully... I think Havertz is a very intelligent football player. It's disrespected a lot. But I still don't know if he's the guy that, over a season, is going to be the guy that scores those key goals in key moments. I'm backing to get 13, 14 league goals. Past that, it's all green. And it's not even so much the number for me. It's the, can you get the winner at Anfield? Can you get the winner at the Etihad? Can you get the equaliser in the last minute at home to United? And get us out of jail against Bournemouth for no reason. Exactly. And we did the pod with Lee and Turkish and James the other day. Make sure you check that out. Yes, man. AFTV, forever Arsenal. But Turkish made the point that for our highest paid player, he's still waiting for Havertz to really be the standout guy in a game where everyone else is poor. And I get the point he's making. And you can argue Southampton, you kind of stepped up a little bit in that game. No, that's one of my favourite goals from him. He did. And scored us last year, I'm honest. Exactly. But the point I think he was making was that your highest paid player, when everyone else is poor, you kind of look to him to be the guy that says, you know, we've been dogged today, but I'm going to do a ting. Van Persie did it a fair times for Arsenal. We were awful, but bang, one chance, we nick it 1-0. I don't know if Havertz has got that in his locker. And more than the quantity of goals that he may or may not score, I'm more concerned about the kind of goals in the kinds of games where we need something from someone and he just pops up and boom. And then behind him, Jesus is dead food. I would have sold Jesus in the summer. I said that all year. It kills me that I agree with you because you know I love Jesus, but he's peaked, bro. He's done. So I think everywhere else, I think we're good. Centre mid surely were light as well, man. Surely. I know beneath the surface, especially, well, let me not say light. I think we're lacking at eight. We've got Rice and all these guys, but we're missing that Santi that says, that connector. I agree. I think we don't have a great eight. We're not necessarily light, but yeah, I think we're lacking especially. I agree. But I think a midfield of Odegaard, Rice and Mourinho, I think that is a midfield that can win the Premier League. I think you can upgrade on that, but if that's your three with the back four we've got, that for me is good enough. I wanted Bruno, excuse me, Dimares as our main target. I think we all did. That was my main target all summer. I mean, before even a striker. I love that guy. He's had a slow start to the season this year, marking me off a little bit, but I think he's a brilliant player. He's got that nastiness about him as well. He's got that little, he's the closest thing to Xhaka that we had. A little bit of nastiness, but he's got a great left foot. A great left foot. He can score a banger. He's combative. He's got a lovely pass. Get up and down really, really well. But anyway, that's kind of come and gone. But I think apart from up top, that's the only position I'm a bit like, I think we're going to win this league, which is what I think our sense of thinking is. We're going to win it defensively, not offensively. We're going to win it by- So Joe's 18. But right now we're not even doing that. So that's concerning. I think you made a great point with Kai Havertz. And it's with me, it's gone beyond the point of like, asking more of Havertz. I mean, everyone can do more. You can do whatever, but you show me what you're like. I'm not saying you can't improve, but you've shown me, you're kind of over-performing. I didn't think you'd be this vital to the side. I just don't think you've got it in you to a degree to be that difference maker that you and I have been speaking of. So it's got past the point. I think Havertz is doing all he can. I look at how the squad's assembled because I don't want to say it's naive. There's too much money. These are too smart for anything to be naivety. But it's more, for me, it's more hope that Kai Havertz could do that rather than a definite, like I know you can't find an Erling Haaland, but you, and again, his form has been crap, but you know, he's going to bail you out, kind of what you're saying. I do think we missed players with Stardust. I do think every team would struggle, but you take Odegaard out, you take Sakharov wearing issues, and I don't think there's a necessary plan B. So it leads me to ask you, Yeah, this is what I'm saying. Good question, because I'm not the sort of person, I'm not really reactionary. I tend to stick with my views with what I predicted until I see something drastic that makes me change my mind. I had us win the title, not because I think we've got the goals to win the title, but I thought and hoped we had the defence to win it, that would get us over the line. I'm not going to change my view on that because of Bournemouth. I think it's one game where we were dog, but I think we need to get back on the horse this weekend at Liverpool. If we win that game, I think it's a must-win. I think we need to put Liverpool back in their box a little bit. Liverpool come to the Emirates. Statement as well. It's a six-pointer, man. I think it is. Liverpool come to the Emirates on Saturday and win. We lose, it gets scary. I'm not going to lie. It's kind of peak, and I've said all along, I've alluded that it's not about doing really, really well pre-Christmas. It's about getting to Christmas and just being part of the pack. Yes, man. It's like the Grand National. You haven't got to be leading after the first two, three practices, but halfway through, you've got to be in that mix. And then the second half, you try and pull away. Yeah, try and make some space. Yes, as long as you're four or five points in and around City come Christmas, that's not a disaster for me. You start going six, seven, eight points behind City, you're then asking City to then to lose three games. It's almost improbable at this moment. That's not happening. Do you know what I mean? So for me, stay in touch. I'm going to still stick with us winning the league, but I think the boys have got to fix up. Allow these stupid red cards. Let's stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's get back to what we were doing last year defensively. Let's get our players back and ride it out. Right now it's sticky, but if you want to win titles, decisions go against you. Deal with it. You want to win titles, injuries happen, deal with it. You want to win titles, you know, a team score three goals that you don't deal with it. Yeah, one nil down, cool. This game ain't done. I was looking before I go at the game on the weekend us and Bournemouth, and even though we were two nil down deluded and down to 10 men, I was still looking in that last 10 minutes thinking I want to see if they still go, if they're still going for it, even though we all kind of know we've accepted what's going on. Game's done, right? I was looking for them to see, to show me that for them, the game wasn't done. Because even at two nil down with five minutes to go, are you still trying to get is that belief that if we get one, you might do a thing, you might do a thing rather than all right, right off onto the next game. No, no, no, no, no. As a champion mindset, you don't write off points. I watch tennis, tennis is my favourite sport, I watch tennis. The man them don't, they don't give up points. Even when they know they're two sets down. You keep going. They don't give up points, bro. You keep going because you keep believing if I can just get a rhythm, if I can get one, if I can win two sets, I'm back in it. Right. So, for me, it's about, my thing now is about the reaction. Teams will lose games, teams will play poorly, cool. Park it, go smoke shakta, yeah, and warm up for the game. Bit of feel good. Yeah, man, and go into that game on Sunday with your mind right and think it to yourself, there's no Saliba here, there's no Odegaard here, maybe even no Saka here, but you know what, bun that, Man City have won titles back to Bruyne and Haaland. Man City have got their best player out for the season. I don't want to hear no crying. Get on with it. Facts, that's the best point, because at the end of the day, yeah, it could be better, it could be worse. I personally feel we just have to deal with these injuries and it's like you said, winners don't make excuses, there's going to be curveballs. We're never just, the sun's never just going to shine, we play every game, everything's fair with the refs, we never get sent off and we just win games. My last question for you, just because you put a spark in my mind there, Pause, how do you look at Arteta then? Like, if we don't go and win that league, because it's another third year of flirting with it. I hear this chat coming up over the last couple of days, Deluded, oh, if this isn't the year, he's got to go. People that are posing that chat are people that never really rated him anyway, and that's okay. If you don't rate him, just say, I don't really rate him. There's always waiting with a pitchfork. Yeah, but what annoys me is, after City, genius, genius Arteta, that's my manager, that's my guy, tactical this, that, and then Bournemouth, oh no, he's on the tightrope, he's got to win it, because if we lose to Liverpool on Saturday, try no, there's going to be a whole lot of idiots on, and I'm not naming any names, we know who they are, a whole heap of idiots on YouTube and online, on Sunday night, and Sky Sports as well, chatting rubbish, yeah? So I'm like, you know what? Them kind of people that are on this whole, he's got to win something, or he's got to go, generally are people that have been looking for an excuse to just pile in. My view is very, very simple. I think let's evaluate it in May, because what if he comes third, wins the Champions League? You catch life, it's a big hospital, you caught life, you won the Champions League, you probably build a statue. That's why context is key. But in terms of the fans that are saying, it's the league, he's got to win the league, I'm like, just shut up and just wait, and just judge him at the end of the season. What I will say though is, for a club like Arsenal, five years, no trophy, it's unacceptable. So money's been spent, and we gas up our tech, so questions have to be asked. Yeah, and I thought it was my guy, but let's have it right. If we win nothing this season, and we're out of all the cups relatively early, and we take the title race, and we fall out of it in the back end of March, so the last kind of like, eight games, seven games, six games, we're never really in it. There's a chat to be had about with this guy, a bit like Southgate. I'm a Southgate guy, that's my guy. But it gets to a point where you're like, we've had four tournaments, bro. We've had four tournaments. And although- This might not be for you, man. Maybe this isn't for you. Maybe we've just got to be brutal, just like, you know what, thank you very much, but we've got to try something else. But right here and right now, I'm in this for the long haul, because the trajectory is going in the right direction. You're right. No, there's been upgrades. There's been- I do think as Arsenal fans, we shouldn't be patient, because I think money's been spent. For me, because I talk apart, I think you need to deliver. And I do think the best thing and the worst thing about Arsenal is before I talk about City, we've shot ourselves in the foot in the last title races. Everything could have been addressed internally. Where I agree with you is that, you know, I think football's too white and black, you know, you can't say Arsenal are nowhere near City, City are invincible, and this, that, and the other, and then get out of, man, when we don't win. It's almost an impossible job in that. Yes, you know, we have only lost two games in 2024. This is our first loss of the season. But I just feel, as you said earlier, you know, when you've gone through the Villa, the Spurs, the Cities, and it's been courageous, and although we beat Southampton and Leicester and lost to Bournemouth, I do think the sentiment changes. I do think context is key. I don't think Arteta gets sacked because he signed a new deal and he's keeping up the trajectory and we're competitive. But I just think questions have to be asked, man. Unless he finishes fifth this season, yeah, his job shouldn't be, it shouldn't be, like, unless it's like some kind of crazy collapse. Crazy collapse! And all teams like Villa are finishing above you, or, you know, Newcastle or Spurs. Unless that happens, for me, he's there next season. But that doesn't mean that if he's fired for coming third and no trophies, I'm going to be outraged either because, bro, you spent P's. You've had time. And if he gets to a point where, we're at a fine point now, Deluded, where it feels like it's either winning the league, it's the next level, or you're knocking, you're doing Spurs. There's a bit of a regression. You're knocking and there's no one in and then you just, you're not going backwards. Like, you leave the house. You're not letting, no one's letting you in the house anymore. Either you go through the door or you're walking away from it. I think we're at that point now. So let's see how it ends. But yeah, if we don't win on Sunday, try and know, all the usual idiots will be online shouting, screaming, spitting at the mouth. Ah, Arteta out. He's got to go. He's a fraud. And all that idiot, bull idiot. I ain't got the time for that stuff. Miss me with that. And my only thing with Arteta that I will say in that, as much as I like him and I like what you're doing, I love my football club. The worst thing I would say with Mikel Arteta is, in the most respectful way, you're in the baby stage of your managerial career. I don't want you to learn for no reason at Arsenal what went well, what went bad. You go somewhere else and you say, oh, bro, that didn't work at Arsenal. Let me do the opposite. And another thing I don't want to happen is I don't think it's an immediate threat, but I think Chelsea can get their act together very quickly. I don't know what City is going to look like, but they're going to be there. I think they're a long way around away from it, but God forbid Man United get their shit together and Liverpool get better and everybody's kind of fighting because right now it's City. I think it's us in terms of stability in the project. I want us to take advantage of this. I don't know what the next three, four years is going to say, but I do feel this has been a time to bag a Prem or a Champs and we may not have this again. And I don't want to read too much into it because these players are part of it and they're still young. But how much times are the likes of Saliba, it's a bit different, but Saka, all of these guys, you're going to be the bridesmaid, not the bridesgroom, not the groom and think, oof, I've gone as far as I can here. Maybe I need to go elsewhere. We did a circling for Saliba, we know this. They are. And how long before the Sakas and Saliba start thinking? They might have 23 now, like this is where you arrive as Menga said, your ball is now. That's right. So, you know, you don't want to lose your best players. But yeah, I think, let's just focus on Liverpool. Let's kind of, let's try and get our players back. And let's handle business on the week. And I think we will win. No Saka makes it really hard. Liverpool are a serious team. But I think as long as we can step it up, defensively solid, let's get back to basics, get back to common sense playing. Let's get back to working words, get back to keeping the ball, moving the ball well, being patient and look for that cutting edge up top. It's harder when you don't have that kind of that piercer. The only person we've got in the team that can make that pass is probably Jorginho. Yeah, it's a trade off. You know what happens when you're on a team. Exactly. Do you want to start with Jorginho against Liverpool? It worked last year, but I think their midfield is 2-30 this year for that, man. Big up Jorginho. He'd have all the faith. But I think you've got to go with the FUGS, man. I genuinely think you've got to put Trossart in the 10th and you've got to try something. I wouldn't be, I'm not, do you know what the saddest thing is? The midfield he went with Bournemouth, a part of me would want to see that against Liverpool, you know, just for the industry. But I do think you need a bit of guile. Do you put Trossart in? Do you put Sterling on the left? But it's like what you said, Sterling's not going on the left if Martinelli's fit. And then you've got the Saka debate, which I think is the biggest thing. Like, we can't not have Saka. He's capable of just doing some questionable stuff. I think everyone else has evident limitations. And I do think the way Arteta set us up, it felt like against Bournemouth, square pegs and round holes, man. But as you said, hopefully we beat Liverpool. If we win, the narrative changes a bit, man. Let's get, let's, let me get a prediction from you before you get out of here, man. Liverpool don't have an abundance of goals in them, but... Salad. Oh, careful, man. Salad's a problem, yeah. I'm going to, I think we'll concede because for some reason our home record in terms of concession is really weirdly poor. I'm going to make a prediction on the premise that Saka starts. So Saka starts, right? Yeah, bare caveats in there. I'm going to go... I'm going to go 2-1 as well, you know. I don't think we're going to get a bag of goals. I think, I think, I think we're going to smoke Shakhtar. I mean, that will be a 4-5. But I don't think this will be that. I'm going to go, I'll go 2-1 as well. So we both got 2-1. By God's grace, we're right. We'll have to see, man. George, if I let you get out of here, let people know they can find you, man. Come on, man. I'm out here. I'm outside, bro. I'm outside. Catch me. I'm on Instagram. My name's Jordan Jarrett-Bryan. You can catch me on AFTV, Forever Arsenal with the boys. Do a podcast twice a week. And I've got a podcast as well, Whisper It Loudly, which I do with Darren Lewis. Make sure you follow them on TikTok. There's some good mouthpieces there, man. Yes, man. Follow me on TikTok, Whisper It Loudly. Yeah, all my stuff's out there, man. Check me out. Like the man said, people, check the guy out. Again, if you're too lazy to actually listen to what the man said, check out the description, copy and paste, follow and support the movement. Hopefully the next time we speak, it's a lot more positive. As usual, man, you know I always appreciate your time and your rationale, man. So let me let you get out of here, boskie. Come on, man. So yeah, people, hit the like button, subscribe and all that good stuff. Peace.